Talk by Elder D. Todd Christofferson

1. The
Resurrection of
Jesus Christ
By Elder D. Todd Christofferson
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

3. Jesus of Nazareth is the resurrected Redeemer, and I testify of
all that follows from the fact of His Resurrection.
A crushing sense of defeat and despair enveloped His disciples as Jesus
suffered and died on the cross and His body was placed lifeless in the
tomb. Despite what the Savior had repeatedly said of His death and
subsequent rising again, they had not understood. The dark after-
noon of His Crucifixion, however, was soon followed by the joyous
morning of His Resurrection. But that joy came only as the disciples
became eyewitnesses of the Resurrection, for even the declaration
of angels that He had risen was at first incomprehensible—it was
something so totally unprecedented.
Mary Magdalene and a few other faithful women came early to the
Savior’s tomb that Sunday morning, bringing spices and ointments
to complete the anointing begun when the Lord’s body was hastily
laid in the sepulchre before the approaching Sabbath. On this morn-
ing of mornings, they were greeted by an open sepulchre, the cov-
ering stone having been rolled away, and two angels who declared:
The
Resurrection of
Jesus Christ
By Elder D. Todd Christofferson
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
“Why seek ye the living among the dead? “He is not here, but
is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet
in Galilee, “Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into
the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day
rise again.” “Come, see the place where the Lord lay. “And go
quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead.”
1Elder D. Todd Christofferson

4. As bidden by the angels, Mary
Magdalene looked into the
tomb, but it seems that all that
registered in her mind was that
the body of the Lord was gone.
She hurried to report to the
Apostles and, finding Peter and
John, said to them, “They have
taken away the Lord out of the
sepulchre, and we know not
where they have laid him.”
Peter and John ran to the place
and verified that indeed the
tomb was empty, seeing “the
linen clothes lying … and the
napkin, that was about his head,
… wrapped together in a place
by itself.” John apparently was
the first to comprehend the
magnificent message of resur-
rection. He writes that “he saw,
and believed,” whereas the oth-
ers to that point “knew not the
scripture, that [Jesus] must rise
again from the dead.”
Peter and John left, but Mary
remained behind, still in mourn-
ing. In the meantime the an-
gels had returned and tenderly
asked her,
“Woman, why weepest thou?
She saith unto them, Because
they have taken away my Lord,
and I know not where they have
laid him.”
At that moment the resurrected
Savior, now standing behind her,
spoke, “Woman, why weepest
thou? whom seekest thou? She,
supposing him to be the garden-
er, saith unto him, Sir, if thou
have borne him hence, tell me
where thou hast laid him,and I
will take him away.”
2The Resurrection of Jesus Christ
“They have taken away the
Lord out of the sepulchre,
and we know not where
they have laid him.”

5. Elder James E. Talmage wrote:
“It was Jesus to whom she spake,
her beloved Lord, though she
knew it not. One word from His
living lips changed her agonized
grief into ecstatic joy. ‘Jesus
saith unto her, Mary.’ The voice,
the tone, the tender accent
she had heard and loved in the
earlier days lifted her from the
despairing depths into which
she had sunk. She turned, and
saw the Lord. In a transport of
joy she reached out her arms to
embrace Him, uttering only the
endearing and worshipful word,
‘Rabboni,’ meaning My beloved
Master.”
3
And so this blessed woman
became thefirst mortal to see
and speak to the resurrected
Christ. Later that same day He
appeared to Peter in or near
Jerusalem; to two disciples on
the road to Emmaus; and in the
evening to 10 of the Apostles
and others, appearing suddenly
in their midst, saying,“Behold
my hands and my feet, that it
is I myself: handle me, and see;
for a spirit hath not flesh and
bones, as ye see me have.”
Then to further convince them
“while they yet believed not for
joy, and wondered,” He ate
broiled fish and honeycomb
before them. Later He instruct-
ed them, “Ye shall be witnesses
unto me both in Jerusalem, and
in all Judea, and in Samaria,
and unto the uttermost part of
the earth.”
Beyond these confirmed wit-
nesses in Jerusalem, we have
the incomparable ministry of
the risen Lord to ancient in-
habitants of the Western Hemi-
sphere. In the land Bountiful,
He descended from heaven and
invited the assembled throng,
some 2,500, to come forward
one by one until they had all
gone forth, thrusting their
hands into His side and feel-
ing the prints of the nails in His
hands and in His feet.
Elder D. Todd Christofferson

6. And when they had all gone forth and had wit-
nessed for themselves, they did cry out with one
accord, saying:
“Hosanna! Blessed be the name of the Most High
God! And they did fall down at the feet of Jesus,
and did worship him.”
Christ’s Resurrection shows that His existence is
independent and everlasting. “For as the Father
hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to
have life in himself.”Jesus said:
“Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay
down my life, that I might take it again.
No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of my-
self. I have power to lay it down, and I have power
to take it again.”
The Savior is not dependent on food or water or
oxygen or any other substance or power or per-
son for life. Both as Jehovah and Messiah, He is
the great I Am, the self-existing God.He simply is
and ever will be.
By His Atonement and Resurrection, Jesus Christ
has overcome all aspects of the Fall. Physical
death will be temporary, and even spiritual death
has an end, in that all come back into the pres-
ence of God, at least temporarily, to be judged.
We can have ultimate trust and confidence in His
power to overcome all else and grant us everlast-
ing life.
“For since by man came death, by man came also
the resurrection of the dead.
“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all
be made alive.”
In the words of Elder Neal A. Maxwell: “Christ’s
victory over death ended the human predicament.
Now there are only personal predicaments, and
from these too we may be rescued by following
the teachings of him who rescued us from gener-
al extinction.”
Having satisfied the demands of justice, Christ
now steps into the place of justice; or we might
say He is justice, just as He is love. Likewise, be-
sides being a “perfect, just God,” He is a perfect,
merciful God. Thus, the Savior makes all things
right. No injustice in mortality is permanent, even
death, for He restores life again. No injury, dis-
ability, betrayal, or abuse goes uncompensated
in the end because of His ultimate justice and
mercy.
4The Resurrection of Jesus Christ

7. Therefore doth my
Father love me,
because I lay down
my life, that I might
take it again.
No man taketh it
from me, but I lay
it down of myself.
I have power to lay
it down, and I have
power to take it
again.

8. By the same token, we are all
accountable to Him for our lives,
our choices, and our actions,
even our thoughts. Because
He redeemed us from the Fall,
our lives are in reality His. He
declared: “Behold I have given
unto you my gospel, and this is
the gospel which I have given
unto you—that I came into the
world to do the will of my Father,
because my Father sent me.”
“And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up
upon the cross; and after that I had been lifted
up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto
me, that as I have been lifted up by men even so
should men be lifted up by the Father, to stand
before me, to be judged of their works.”
Consider for a moment the significance of the
Resurrection in resolving once and for all the
true identity of Jesus of Nazareth and the
great philosophical contests and ques-
tions of life. If Jesus was in fact literally
resurrected, it necessarily follows that
He is a divine being. No mere mortal
has the power in himself to come to
life again after dying. Because He was
resurrected, Jesus cannot have been
only a carpenter, a teacher, a rabbi, or
a prophet. Because He was resurrected,
Jesus had to have been a God, even the
Only Begotten Son of the Father.
Therefore, what He taught is true; God
cannot lie. Therefore, He was the Cre-
ator of the earth, as He said. There-
fore, heaven and hell are real, as He
taught. Therefore, there is a world of
spirits, which He visited after His death.
Therefore, He will come again, as the angels said,
and “reign personally upon the earth.” Therefore,
there is a resurrection and a final judgment for all.
6The Resurrection of Jesus Christ

9. Given the reality of the Resurrection of Christ,
doubts about the omnipotence, omniscience,
and benevolence of God the Father—who gave
His Only Begotten Son for the redemption of the
world—are groundless. Doubts about the mean-
ing and purpose of life are unfounded. Jesus
Christ is in fact the only name or way by which
salvation can come to mankind. The grace of
Christ is real, affording both forgiveness and
cleansing to the repentant sinner. Faith
truly is more than imagination or psycho-
logical invention. There is ultimate and
universal truth, and there are objective
and unchanging moral standards, as
taught by Him.
Given the reality of the Resurrection
of Christ, repentance of any violation
of His law and commandments is both
possible and urgent. The Savior’s mira-
cles were real, as is His promise to His
disciples that they might do the same
and even greater works. His priesthood
is necessarily a real power that “admin-
istereth the gospel and holdeth the key
of the mysteries of the kingdom, even
the key of the knowledge of God. There-
fore, in the ordinances thereof, the pow-
er of godliness is manifest.” Given the reality of
the Resurrection of Christ, death is not our end,
and though “skin worms destroy [our bodies], yet
in [our] flesh shall [we] see God.”
President Thomas S. Monson
tells of a Robert Blatchford who,
100 years ago “in his book God
and My Neighbor, attacked with
vigor accepted Christian beliefs,
such as God, Christ, prayer, and
immortality. He boldly asserted,
‘I claim to have proved every-
thing I set out to prove so fully
and decisively that no Christian,
however great or able he may
be, can answer my arguments
or shake my case.’ He surround-
ed himself with a wall of skep-
ticism. Then a surprising thing
happened. His wall suddenly
crumbled to dust. … Slowly he
began to feel his way back to
the faith he had scorned and
ridiculed. What had caused this
profound change in his outlook?
His wife [had] died. With a bro-
ken heart, he went into the room
where lay all that was mortal of
her. He looked again at the face
he loved so well. Coming out, he
said to a friend: ‘It is she, and
yet it is not she. Everything is
changed. Something that was
there before is taken away. She
is not the same. What can be
gone if it be not the soul?’”
7Elder D. Todd Christofferson

10. Did the Lord in reality die and
rise again? Yes. “The fundamen-
tal principles of our religion are
the testimony of the Apostles
and Prophets, concerning Jesus
Christ, that He died, was bur-
ied, and rose again the third day,
and ascended into heaven; and
all other things which pertain to
our religion are only appendag-
es to it.”
Until then, I believe the many witnesses of the
Savior’s Resurrection whose experiences and
testimonies are found in the New Testament—
Peter and his companions of the Twelve and dear,
pure Mary of Magdala, among others. I believe
the testimonies found in the Book of Mormon—of
Nephi the Apostle with the unnamed multitude in
the land Bountiful, among others. And I believe
the testimony of Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon
who, after many other testimonies, proclaimed
the great witness of this last dispensation “that
he lives! For we saw him.” Under the glance of His
all-seeing eye, I stand myself as a witness that
Jesus of Nazareth is the resurrected Redeemer,
and I testify of all that follows from the fact of His
Resurrection. May you receive the conviction and
comfort of that same witness, I pray in the name
of Jesus Christ, amen.
“every knee shall bow,
and every tongue
confess before him.”
8
As the prophesied birth of Jesus drew near, there
were those among the ancient Nephite and Lama-
nite peoples who believed, though most doubted.
In due course, the sign of His birth arrived—a day
and a night and a day without darkness—and all
knew. Even so today, some believe in the literal
Resurrection of Christ, and many doubt or disbe-
lieve. But some know. In due course, all will see
and all will know; indeed,
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ

12. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of
myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have
power to take it again.